Life

Beginner's Luck: Jeremy Blake is Ready for Kona

With one hot IRONMAN already under his belt, this midwestern athlete is looking forward to the challenges of the Big Island.

by Kara Deschenes

Whether you call it beginner’s luck or first-timer’s fortune, Jeremy Blake calls winning a lottery entry into the IRONMAN World Championship on his first try simply amazing. The 36-year-old accountant recently posted on the IRONMAN Facebook page, "You know you're an IRONMAN when winning the lottery for Kona is worth more than a million dollars." His comment attracted over 500 likes—confirmation that how he felt wasn't unusual.

The Minnesota native stumbled upon triathlon at the beginning of 2013 when a stress fracture put his intense run training on hold. Coming off a high mileage year in 2012 (he completed six marathons and logged over 2,400 miles), Blake was afraid his injury would derail his hard-earned fitness, so turned to swimming to help stay in shape. After spending eight weeks in the water, and subsequently conquering his fear of swimming, Blake returned to running, but found he missed the pool. He had also previously dabbled in cycling as cross-training to complement his running, so when he came across a sprint triathlon less than half a mile from his house, he signed up.

With a "go big, or go home" approach, Blake purchased a new bike before his first sprint race thanks to a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be his last. On race day, despite an hour-long rain delay and temperatures in the 50s, he lined up ready to race. His motivation took a hit when he jumped into the 58-degree water without a wetsuit (he hadn’t invested in one at that point).

"Half-way through the swim I was so cold that I wanted to grab onto a boat and quit," he says. Instead, he kept going in attempt to see how far he could push. And, when he crossed the finish line of that first race, the self-described endurance junkie went right on to sign up for the Chisago Lakes Triathlon (a long-course race) as a warm-up for his ultimate goal: IRONMAN Louisville.

After using the Chisago Lakes Triathlon as a training race, Blake continued gearing up for IRONMAN Louisville, specifically focusing on his mental game. "I prepared for my first IRONMAN race by replicating mentally challenging training days," he says. "I’d purposely set out on a 60-mile bike ride with the wind at my back, knowing that I’d have to deal with a headwind for the final half of my workout. Watching my speed get cut in half as I rode head-on into the wind was deflating, but I knew I’d need to call on that mental grit on race day."

Though he didn’t end up dealing with wind in Louisville last summer, Blake did battle blazing high temperatures and high humidity. He relied on the memory of those tough training days to push through and accomplish his goal of finishing in 12 hours. When his GPS battery died during the run, the numbers addict looked at the sun's position in the sky to gauge his progress. Sprinting through the finish chute, Blake finished in a final time of 11:56:32, was met by his father and overcome with emotion.

After his first taste of the IRONMAN finish line, Blake immediately started plotting his course to Kona. While training for his first race, he says he'd watch online videos of the IRONMAN World Championship: "Watching the intensity of the athletes in Kona on YouTube built my Hawaiian dream," he says. Though his IRONMAN Louisville time didn’t score him a Kona slot, he admits he had searched the website to find a race with the best probability. While perusing the site, he ran across the Kona Lottery program and took a chance. On announcement day, Blake sat glued to his screen watching for his name, which he eventually found. After a bout of celebration, he began to check frantically for a confirmation email. "I began to panic that I celebrated prematurely because an email wasn’t coming through. I hoped there wasn’t another Jeremy Blake out there getting the news I thought was mine," he says. After 10 excruciating minutes, the email finally arrived and the Kona planning began.

Blake’s dream of racing the IRONMAN World Championship will come true this October. "I feel fortunate to have won the slot at a young age, where I know I will savor the memories for the rest of my life," he says. "It’s exciting to know that I will race on the same course as the pros and I hope to finish the bike fast enough to catch a glimpse of them on the run." Blake plans on soaking up every minute of the experience, including his first ocean swim, and can’t wait to feel the electricity of the race. Though he knows there will be challenges along the way, he can’t wait to see what’s possible on the Big Island.

Kara Deschenes is a health and fitness freelance writer living in Tampa, FL. For her latest musings in the endurance world, follow her @KaraDeschenes.